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The Cincinnati Bengals trotted out a new-look offensive line with the first team during Friday’s preseason loss to Washington Football Team.
After letting Michael Jordan start Week 1, the Bengals put Xavier Su’a-Filo at right guard and Quinton Spain on the left side with the first team.
Head coach Zac Taylor says this is all part of the plan because the team still has an open competition at both guard spots, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“It’s a competition. It’s going to continue to evolve each game, each practice,” Taylor said. “I don’t even look at who’s going out there with the starters necessarily. We evaluate all their play inside. What’s the benefit for us going forward. I thought there were some good things we did in the run game. It’s not going to be easy against that front. “
Su’a-Filo and Spain got 11 snaps before Jordan got in the game at left guard and second-rounder Jackson Carman went to right guard. They played through the third quarter.
On paper, Spain and Su’a-Filo look like the opening-day starters. But the veterans led a line that had two early, brutal penalties and the running game couldn’t make any headway, so it’s enough to wonder if somebody else could still crack the lineup.
That somebody doesn’t appear to be the second-rounder Carman, who was a third-stringer on the team’s first official depth chart. But maybe it’s fourth-rounder D’Ante Smith, who was a second-stringer and had reps with the first-team during practice last week.
Either way, a familiar problem continues to plague the Bengals.
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